The Enterprise, White Salmon, WA., March 29, 1935, page 5

THE HISTORY OF TROUT LAKE VALLEY
By Mrs. A. Elmer, Sr.

     According from what I have heard, and from my own knowledge, Trout Lake Valley has been settled some 55 or more years. The first real settler that was in here was a man by the name of Peter Stoller, with his big family consisting of Mr. and Mrs. Stoller, 5 daughters and 3 sons, who were partly grown up when they moved in here. They came over from Camas Prairie, having lived in Gilmer Valley for some time, then in Camas Prairie for probably a number of years, then finally came over in Trout Lake. They came across the hills, some on horseback, some afoot, and brought several head of cattle and also some horses. When they came over to this valley they found to their horror that the river was so swollen from early spring rains and melting snow, and as there were no bridges, they had to stay on the other side and camp out until the water went down so they could cross.
     They took up a homestead where now stands the Guler Hotel. The was a meadow all around, that grew a great deal of wild grass at that time to feed their cattle, but when winter came they had to feed them on the wild hay they had cut all by hand but that winter most of the cattle died. They also started to raise wheat and rye to make their own flour for bread and also to use for coffee. They had their own milk and eggs and trout and game were plentiful, so they lived on these things. What they had they were happy with and contented to love and live in a real true country.
     The Stollers were supposed to be the only settlers here for 3 years. No neighbors and no outside communication.
     The next settler that came in then I think was a man by the name of William Stadelman, who later married Maggie Stoller, the oldest daughter. Then came Mr. C.A. Pearson and Claus and Charlie, who later married a Stoller daughter, Susie.
     There was also another settler by the name of Finney who also married a Stoller girl. She later was killed by a falling tree. The Finney homestead was near the hill in back of the D.H. Allaway farm. Stadelman homesteaded the place that is now the John H. Hall place; Mr. Charlie Pearson located where he is still living.
     A John Peterson took up a homestead where the Peterson place is now. There was also a man, a frenchman, who lived on what is now the Cutting place. The Guler ranch was homesteaded by a woman, Mrs. Wagner. The was also a man, a bachelor, on what is now the Welty place, by the name of John Barricker. A man also lived back of the lake by the name of Dan Keggi, Mr. Elbert, a bachelor owned the Fred Woods place.
     Two men, both bachelors, lived on what is now the Skipton place. Mr. Johnson and Mrs. Covington, Kettenberg homesteaded near Stadelman, what is now Martha Hoffman's place. A bachelor by the name of Allison lived where John Perry's place is now. A young couple by the name of Junker were on what is now the Wineberger place. Then across the river was the Eggert family with 2 sons, who each had a homestead.
     Mr. and Mrs. Chris Guler lived in Bear Valley, also another bachelor lived there. Also the Winegartners. They had no real bridge across the deep White Salmon river, so had to get go down the hill and cross the river over a log. They had to pack their household good across the log, their wagons and all they brought in they packed up the hill on the other side, that must have been a hard climb.
     Then Mr. Joseph Aerni came in with a large family and a sick wife in 1887. The wife later died here. The Coate Bros. came in also Harvey Byrkett. He homesteaded on what is now called the Sam Burdett place.
     Rufus and Charlie Byrkett came at the same time. Rufus homesteaded the place that is now called the Coffin place of Madgeland ranch. The Coate Bros. located where they are still living.
     In 1888 my brother Peter Schmid and his cousin Jack Schmid came in here. My brother located at the lake, his cousin up in the timber. There was no work to get in here at that time as there were no mills of any kind and almost no roads of any sort. There was only one road, outgoing to White Salmon, what is now called the saw dust road. People built log houses. Some of them without any lumber, some very nice. The house on the Sam Burdett place was the nicest in the valley at the time. All that could be done with the timber that stood on their homestead was to cut the trees down, saw them into logs, roll them into a pile and burn them, though the stumps still were left to be taken care of; but they didn't worry about them, they sowed grass seed, barley, wheat and such between the stumps, cut it bay hand and soon had enough hay to feed a few head of cattle in the winter. Barns were made of poles and shakes. They kept on clearing land until they had some little fields clean.
     You may think and I may think on what did these people live? Some may have had some worry, some didn't, but they made it a go. Soon as they had a few cows, they made butter, and it was put in 100-lb. Butter barrels and in the fall was sold. Mostly to Portland. Their only transportation being by boat.
     They raised their own meat, their own vegetables and what ever else they needed and were contented. There were but a few pole bridges across the rivers and creeks. People traveled mostly by horse back at that time, so they could just ride through the rivers most of the time. I only remember of seeing 2 pole bridges, one down by Allaway's corner, crossing the White Salmon river, another up here, a little above where town is now, crossing over Trout Creek over on the Guler ranch. This also was the only way for Mr. Byrkett to get to his homestead. There was no bridge where the town bridge is now and no road going north. As the homesteaders were scattered all over, one here and one there, it would have been impossible to build roads and bridges, for everyone. They simply had to see how they could get in and out.
     Most settlers of course, would settle where there was good water for the houses. We took up a homestead in the fall of 1890 up in lower Trout Lake Valley, part of what is now the Otto Voight place and part of the Warner place. We built a 10x12 log house and lived there awhile, then both my husband and I went to work for Mr. and Mrs. Harve Byrkett. In the mean while a neighbor that already had a whole section of land took our land away from us, because were didn't live on it. In the fall of 1891 one year after we came here, we went back east again.
     There were no stores here at that time. No church, no school house, but one little 2x4 loghouse on what is now the Cutting place. There were only 6 or 7 children. A.M. Flannigan, from Goldendale was the teacher.
     The first person we met was Harve Byrkett. We came out from White Salmon with him as he happened to be down there. Mr. and Mrs. Byrkett were the parents of Mrs. Will Coate, who is still one of Trout Lake's residents. I remember well, as we came along Bald Mountain, Mr. Frank Coate came down with an oxen team on his way to White Salmon, probably to get their winter's supply. We had quite a time to pass on the road where there was hardly room for one rig. It was a good thing the oxen were gentle animals. Another thing I well remember was joy riding with an ox team and a lumber wagon going up to the Ice Caves one Sunday. The Byrketts, the Coates, two or more Coate brothers, Roger and Webb Coate, that were out west for a visit. I think Mr. Frank Coate was the driver; going up to the Ice Caves was a slow driver, but coming back, you should have seen those oxen. That was great fun at that time, but would be slow traveling nowadays.
     One other party we met that day coming in here was Susie Stoller and Charlie Pearson riding on horseback to White Salmon to get married.
     There was no daily mail. I think it was brought in twice or three times a week. It was brought from White Salmon to Gilmer and by horseback from Gilmer to Trout Lake. In the summer time, in the winter time on snow shoes, Charlie Pearson was the post master for what little mail that came in. White Salmon was the only place where people could get their most necessary supplies, there being only one store in White Salmon at that time, Jake Hunsaker was the storekeeper. People of course, did not go out much, women hardly once a year, as it was always a two or three days' trip and the roads were bad. Sometimes they would go with oxen teams and that was a very slow trip.
     Oxen were used at this time and often to clear land because they were cheaper to feed than horses. These early pioneers surely must have gone through great many hardships, but still they kept up their courage, and worked very hard. A man most always went to bed a night with a sore back but most of them can look back now and see their hard-earned reward.
     In 1904, thirteen years after we went out from here back east, we came back. Trout Lake was an altogether different place. There were fine big meadows, nice big frame houses, new bars, pastures full of cattle to see, many more settlers had come in to make their homes. Every where new farms, Trout Lake looked then a promising place to live. There was then a church, two stores, a good-sized school house, with some 80 or 90 children, with 2 teachers, Mr. Miller and Miss Lizzie. There was also a cheese factory built where the farmers could dispose of their milk. There were several small saw mills built were men could get work part of the time. There were also several new bridges then built, and pretty good roads all over the valley. The Tourists Hall was built in the summer of 1904 by the Thode brothers. Sometime later Mr. Zuberbuhler built a meat market. I must not forget there was also a hotel opened and operated by Mr. and Mrs. Chris Guler, they had bought Mr. Stoller out some years previous and started a hotel in the old log house that Mr. Stoller had built! Later Mr. and Mrs. Guler built a small hotel that was well liked by the tourists that came in here in the summer, most of them on the stage covered with dust and very hungry. The stage left the Colburn hotel in White Salmon at 8:00 o'clock and did not reach Trout Lake until late in the afternoon. The roads at that time were very rough and dusty, but by Mr. and Mrs. Guler's helping hands were soon cleaned and their hungry stomachs satisfied with Mr. Guler's good eats. Trout Lake, in earlier days was a regular summer resort, people coming in from every where as there was free fishing and hunting and many nice places to camp so, all in all, they had a very nice time.
     The post office at that time was down in the lower end of the valley at the Moore place, where it stayed for many years, later it was moved to Trout Lake. Mr. Moore was post-master for over 25 years. Trout Lake also has many caves, the ice caves and the butter caves. The Butter Caves were used by the early settlers to keep their butter and meat in the summer. The Lave Caves were not discovered until after 1890. A young boy, Joe Aerni was hunting his father's cattle when he found the cave. He told about it to others, so my brother, his cousins and others went to open it up and found that is was 35 to 60 feet deep. The men took 40 feet poles, nailed some boards across to make ladder and that way they went down to the bottom. From then on these caves were visited by many people. There were about 25 settlers in the valley up to 1914. Since that time Trout Lake has seen a steady growth until now it is a thriving community.
     In 1918 the school house burned down and a nice big school was built. We had five teachers, 3 for grade school and 2 for high school with about 100 pupils. This last year they have built a new gymnasium 105X45 feet, with a stage a balcony and down stairs room to be used as a club room.
     We have now a very good road to get our produce to market and there is talk of a Mt. Adams Highway thru here. There is a Sulphur Mine on the top of Mt. Adams. Trout Lake, all in all, has been a peaceful place to live. Very few bad things have ever happened here. The flood of Dec.1933, when really many people were in danger in their homes, some having to move out, was the worst. Late one night the water took 2 big bridges out and out only electric plant went down the river too. This was some thing that the oldest settlers do not remember ever happening before.
     The winters here are different, that most any other place. Some winters we had as much as 7 or 8 feet of snow, other winters we have only 1 or 2 feet. The people are well prepared by having plenty of food in the cellars, wood in the wood shed and feed for the cattle in the barns.
     We have lived here now for 31 years and I presume will stay the rest of our time. I have seen the younger generations grow up from their childhood, have stood by the grave of many dear old pioneers that has gone ahead of us. There are only a few of the real first settlers left, but still active and happy and most are still finding pleasure in work as before. Of the 25 families here in 1890 only a few are left. There is the Charlie Pearson family, Chris Guler family, the Coate brothers, Mr. Allison, the 3 Aerni brothers, Mrs. Jake Schmid and Mrs. Will Coate and the others either moved out or have passed away. So now I will close this history of Trout Lake with a little poem.

Trout Lake Valley, the valley of sunshine and rain,
     It has always a place in my heart,
That will always hold sorest memories,
     It lays between pine covered hill-sides,

Fragrant with blossoms so sweet,
     Summers with green meadows and fields,
We may labor and toil for a living,
     But the work we do is well worth-while,
For a future that our generation will share,

O Valley of sunshine and rain,
     Carved by a majestic hand,
Room for a reap of living, living that came from the soil,
     Steps may falter; eyes may grow dim,

Still there is comfort and peace,
     In the things we have accomplished and hold dear,
That will be our last memory of Trout Lake Valley,
     The Valley of Sunshine and rain.

(Written for the Woman's Club meeting of March 19, 1935 by Mrs. A. Elmer, Sr.)

The Enterprise, White Salmon, WA., April 5, 1935, page 6

MRS. ELMER SENDS IN CORRECTIONS ON HISTORY OF TROUT LAKE VALLEY

     Mrs. A. Elmer of Trout Lake, who wrote last week's article on "The History of Trout Lake Valley", sent in the corrections for the following mistakes: --
Where it read, "Mrs. Elmer and her husband came here in 1890 they rode out to Trout Lake they met the Coate brothers in the year 1887 and they were on their way to The Dalles to get married, not White Salmon. It also said Trout Lake had 25 settlers in 1914. They had 25 settlers in 1890". There were some other mistakes, she reported.

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©  Jeffrey L. Elmer